Ranged Attack— Pollen: automatic hit (range 30 ft.; one creature). Hit: the target must make a successful DC 13 Con saving throw or be incapacitated and charmed by the yellow musk creeper for 1d4 minutes. Charmed creatures must approach the yellow musk creeper and don’t resist its attacks; the creeper’s tendril attacks have tactical advantage against them.

STATISTICS

Str 18 (+4), Dex 14 (+2), Con 17 (+3),

Int 0 (–5), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 8 (–1)

Languages: None

Senses: Darkvision 60 ft.

TRAITS

Create Yellow Musk Zombie: A creature that is charmed by a yellow musk creeper and reduced to Intelligence 0 becomes a yellow musk zombie under the control of the creeper that created it. The transformation takes 1 hour. If the yellow musk creeper is slain before the transformation is complete, the transformation can be prevented by lesser restoration, protection from poison, or comparable poison-negating magic.

Rejuvenation: A yellow musk creeper can be killed only if its root is dug up and burned, hacked apart, or otherwise destroyed. Reducing the creeper to 0 hit points puts it out of commission so that its root can be dug up safely. The root is a Small bulb with AC 5 and 10 hit points. If the root is not destroyed, the Plant regrows in two weeks.

The yellow musk creeper is a slow-moving Plant that attacks living creatures and feeds on their intelligence, eventually turning them into yellow musk zombies. Creepers can be found in moderate to warm climates and Underground, but are rarely encountered elsewhere.

The root of the Plant is a bulbous, brown sac that lies deep beneath the ground where the yellow musk creeper grows. When a potential humanoid victim approaches within 10 feet, the flowers of the creeper shoot out a seed pod that bursts into a puff of musky-smelling, fine powder when it hits a target. These spores have a mesmerizing effect on living creatures. Once entranced, they want only to stand as near to the yellow musk creeper as possible—which is exactly what the Plant needs them to do, so it can insert its strands into their braincase and draw out their cerebral fluid.

Yellow musk creepers are never encountered alone. They always have at least one yellow musk zombie somewhere nearby. These creatures remain hidden for as long as possible, to avoid tipping off potential victims to the danger the Plant presents.